Dwight Eisenhower
| race= | religion= | birth= | death= | cause of death= | occupation=Soldier, Politician | spouse=Mamie Doud | children=Doud Dwight (1917-1921), John Sheldon Doud (sons) | family = | military branch =United States Army ( , ) |political party= |political office = }}Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States, serving from 1953 until 1961. Previously, he'd served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–5. As President, he oversaw the ceasefire of the Korean War, kept up the pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race by authorizing the establishment of NASA. He was able to help put an end to the Suez Crisis by refusing to back the Israeli, British, and French invasion of Egypt. He also authorized coups in Iran and Guatemala, supported Taiwan over the People's Republic of China, backed the new state of South Vietnam, and ordered an invasion of Lebanon. Ironically, in his farewell address in 1960, Eisenhower warned the country against the increased influence of what he called the "Military Industrial Complex". Domestically, Eisenhower enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. The Civil Rights Movement began in earnest during Eisenhower's presidency, as Eisenhower completed the process of desegregating the Armed Forces begun under Harry Truman, and even ordered the desegregation of schools in the District of Columbia. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States issued their decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared segregation of black and white students in public schools to be unconstitutional. He was an opponent of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist witch-hunts, but his tactics were not overt. He preferred to ignore McCarthy so as to not validate him, and used executive privilege to thwart McCarthy. Eisenhower was also the first president to make his health information public. Consequently, the public knew when he had a heart attack in 1955, an operation on his intestines in 1956, and a stroke in 1957. After leaving office, Eisenhower maintained a fairly public life. He died in 1969 of congestive heart failure. Dwight Eisenhower in The Hot War Dwight Eisenhower was being bandied about as the Republican presidential nominee for the 1952 election. In May 1951, as World War III was underway, incumbent President Harry Truman reflected on Eisenhower as possible president, finding him an amiable but lightweight executive better fit to run a car company rather than a country. Truman found Eisenhower a more palatable choice than Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was slowly getting his own campaign underway.Bombs Away, pg. 389., HC. Throughout the remainder of 1951, Eisenhower still seemed to be viable, but McCarthy's increasingly heated rhetoric seemed to be gaining support.Fallout, pg. 246, HC. Still, Eisenhower's role in World War II did seem to give him an edge over many of his Republican rivals, to say nothing of the Democrats as a whole.Ibid., pg. 326. The course of the war changed the political calculus completely, when most of the contenders for the presidency were killed by the Soviet atomic bombing of Washington, DC in May 1952.Ibid., e-book, loc. 6782. Eisenhower was not in Washington, and so seemed likely to become the Republican nominee by default.Armistice, pg. 6, HC. While Truman was no fan of Eisenhower, he did respect him. Truman briefly considered appointing Eisenhower to the office of Secretary of Defense after George Marshall was killed in the atomic attack. However, Eisenhower's political aspirations made that impossible.Ibid., pg. 69, loc. 1127, ebook. Moreover, when Truman decided to postpone the 1952 presidential election, Eisenhower, knowing how badly the U.S. political process had been disrupted, did not raise an objection. At Truman's invitation, Eisenhower met with Truman in the temporary White House in Philadelphia. Truman expressed his appreciation that Eisenhower hadn't fought him. Both agreed they were glad Senator Joseph McCarthy was among those Congresspeople killed. Conversely, both also lamented the fact that Richard Nixon had survived, although Eisenhower was confident that he wouldn't derail his presidential bid. Eisenhower was also comfortable that Congress would set elections for 1956. As a concession to Eisenhower's continued cooperation, Truman agreed that Congressional elections would take place and that he'd hold to his promise not to run again. After that, they discussed the political situation Eisenhower was likely to inherit, including the ongoing threat of Red China. The USSR, however, was far more broken.Ibid., pgs. 219-223, loc. 3494-3559. Dwight Eisenhower in "Hindsight" }}Dwight Eisenhower had only been President of the United States a few months in 1953 when science fiction writer Pete Lundquist realized that fellow author Mark Gordian had somehow plagiarized a story from Lundquist that Lundquist hadn't even completed yet. When Lundquist shared this with editor Jim McGregor, both men contemplated the possibility that Gordian might be a telepath, although McGregor wondered why Gordian would read Lundquist's mind instead of Eisenhower's.See, e.g., 3XT, pg. 216. Dwight Eisenhower in The Man With the Iron Heart General Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower became the senior United States Army official on the ground in Germany after the end of World War II. He was firmly in favor of a continued American occupation of the country, even after the German Freedom Front began inflicting massive casualties upon Allied troops, and the will of the American people began to erode. The Man With the Iron Heart, generally 46-368. Nonetheless, the possibility that Eisenhower might be the Republican Party's choice to run against President Harry Truman in 1948 was already being floated in 1946.Id., pg. 177. Eisenhower transferred back home in 1946. He was succeeded by General Lucius Clay.Id., pg. 368. , ) |type of appearance = Direct}} Dwight Eisenhower in Worldwar Dwight Eisenhower was a prominent general during World War II and the war against the Race's Conquest Fleet. In 1944, he escorted Albert Einstein and Benito Mussolini through Missouri to Couch, Missouri where they could examine the components of a Race shuttlecraft and confer with Dr. Robert Goddard.Upsetting the Balance, pg. 312, HC. As the war wound down, Eisenhower led a successful counter-offensive against the Race's toehold in Missouri. Dwight Eisenhower in ''Joe Steele'' Dwight Eisenhower was a prominent American military leader, who rose to the rank of general during the dictatorial reign of President Joe Steele, and proved instrumental to the country's victory over Japan in the Pacific Theater during World War II. In 1934, Major Eisenhower came to prominence as part of the military tribunal that presided over the trial of the Supreme Court Four.''Joe Steele'', pg. 101-108, HC. After surviving the purges of the 1930s, he and Admiral Chester Nimitz planned and executed the operation that took control of the Solomon Islands from the Japanese during World War II.Ibid, pg 269. He then planned and executed the capture of Tarawa,Ibid, pg 284. Saipan,Ibid, pg 292. Angaur, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.Ibid, pg 302. Eisenhower then planned and executed Operation: Downfall which was executed in two parts: Operation: OlympicIbid, pg 307. and Operation: Coronet.Ibid, pg 315. The war ended with the death of Emperor Hirohito and ascension of Boy-Emperor Akihito who, while nominally the head of state, did whatever Eisenhower told him to do,Ibid, pg 325. a state of affairs the people of South Japan bitterly resented.Ibid., pg. 337. Eisenhower remained part of the Steele Administration during and after the Japanese War. The Republican Party tried to recruit Eisenhower as their presidential nominee in 1952, but Eisenhower (after some prompting from Joe Steele's allies) declined.Ibid., pg. 397. Literary Comment In the short story, Eisenhower commanded in the European Theater rather than the Pacific, including opening a second front via an invasion in Normandy as in OTL.See e.g. The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-first Annual Collection, pgs. 385-386. See Also *General Ironhewer, a minor fictional character in Southern Victory, who closely resembles Eisenhower. *Thomas Dewey, who in Southern Victory is elected as the 34th US President in 1944. *Robert Taft, who in ''Joe Steele'' is the Republican Presidential nominee in the 1952 election. References }} Category:Adulterers Category:Commanding Generals of the United States Army (OTL) Category:Generals Category:Smokers Category:Soldiers of the Japanese War